Age of ULTRON (Spoilers. You've been warned.)

First, let me just say this: When I say “All the Spoilers!”, I mean it.  Sorry!

Don't let this be you! If you don't want spoilers, STOP READING NOW. 

I saw Avengers: Age of Ultron last night, and I must say, I quite enjoyed it.  Not like the first Avengers – I adored the first Avengers movie.  Adored it.  I actually skipped my Master’s degree graduation ceremony to go see it alone, and I have never once regretted it. 

Age of Ultron was good, but it wasn’t the first Avengers movie.  It wasn’t that new, and it wasn’t just on the cusp of the American obsession with superheroes that helped make it so unique and awesome.  It was still, however, a Joss Whedon film, and it kept the cast that really made the first Avengers movie, and thus it was pretty incredible. 

The plot is pretty much what you get from the trailer: Tony Stark, in an attempt to bring world peace, builds Ultron, a functional AI.  Like every other peace-keeping AI in any sci-fi movie ever, Ultron comes to the conclusion that in order for humanity to have peace, they must be destroyed.  (If this sounds familiar, it is because this was the same conclusion drawn by the giant face-robot who led the army of glowing red Alan Tudyk machines in I, Robot about ten years ago.) Unlike other movies with this same destruction-robot idea, Age of Ultron throws in a twist: Ultron fixates on the Avengers themselves as the source of most of the violence on Earth and sets out to destroy them.  They quickly realize they are horribly outmatched against Ultron, who has joined forces with the never-named-due-to-copyright-issues Scarlet Witch and her twin, the again-never-named Quiksilver.

Thus, violence ensues.  The movie skitters all over the globe trying to find and stop Ultron, including visits to Seoul, South Korea, somewhere in South Africa, and their characteristic New York City, all before ending up for the final show-down in Sovokia.  There, in a recovering Soviet backwater, apparently Ultron has decided that no one will notice when he lifts several square miles worth of earth into the sky to use as an impromptu meteor, big enough to trigger a global extinction.   The Avengers notice, of course, but no one else – no militaries around the world, no emergency systems, nothing.  You can imagine the CGI-destruction that extends from this point until the end of the movie. 

Ultron and his minions. I told you. 

Frankly, the plot is the weakest point of Age of Ultron.  The robot-destruction is eerily reminiscent of I, Robot, and the whole “Avengers must fight an army of minions” is basically just a re-hash of the Chitauri battle in the first movie, just in Eurasia instead of New York City.  As soon as I opened my mouth to point that out, Bishop reminded me that that’s basically the plot of, like, every superhero movie.  I guess I don’t care – part of what I liked about the first movie is that the plot felt original, not yet overdone.  Here, it feels a little stale. 

It also opens very much en media res (literature term for “in the middle of the action”), which was a little confusing.  It assumes that you’ve seen the first Avengers, that you’ve seen Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Iron Man 3, all the superhero movies in the same universe since at least 2012.  That’s a little confusing, even if you’re like me and you HAVE seen all those movies.  That’s a lot of information to keep sorted as they descend onto a Hydra base in the first few minutes.  Thoughts included “Wait… what’s Hydra again?” and then “Really? Hydra again?” You’d think that, since the 1940s/the first Captain America movie, somebody really would have just whacked them off the face of the planet.  Apparently not. 

Some of the emotional build-up in the first twenty minutes appears to have taken place outside the movie itself as well.  The hint of romance between Natasha Romanov and Bruce Banner, for example, seems to have sparked sometime between The Winter Soldier and Age of Ultron, which is both confusing and disappointing.  Their romance is sweet; why deprive audiences of that?  The movie would have benefited from about 10 more minutes of expose at the beginning, all in all, and really, what’s 10 more minutes in a movie that’s already 2.5 hours long?

I don't have a good pic to illustrate this, so here's Chris Hemsworth being pretty as Thor. Also Capt. America and Iron Man for good measure. 

I also had some unfortunately adult concerns over the collateral damage left behind from the Avengers’ actions.  There’s a moment when the Hulk and Iron Man are fighting and Iron Man literally throws Hulk through a building, top to bottom, with the building plunging down around him.  And in the moment when I should have been staring with child-like wonder at how fucking awesome the action was, all I could think about was September 11^th.  (Depressing, isn’t that?) When the Towers fell, thousands of tons of dust and debris went up into the air, and NYC citizens by the millions inhaled it unwittingly; much scientific discussion has occurred over the unseen health detriments that affected these people.  I’ve read some of their essays: it’s a horrible tragedy that’s gone very widely unreported, the effects of breathing in the dust of concrete and glass and ash and (most disturbingly) death. So when Iron Man brought down the tower here, that’s all I could think of – what will happen to the citizens who have to breathe that shit in?

Sometimes it’s sucky to be an adult. 

I realize all I’ve written here suggests that, really, I didn’t like this movie much, but that’s not true.  Plots in superhero movies aren’t expected to be wholly original and fresh anymore; that’s simply not possible.  What makes superhero movies great are the characters, and character development has always been where Joss Whedon excels anyway. 

Age of Ultron is no exception. 

The ensemble cast shines, and the screenwriting is stuffed filled with one-liners and ridiculous running jokes that bring the movie to life.  A moment in the opening scene where the Captain chides Stark on his bad language comes back again and again, each time more clever than the last.  When Nick Fury shows up (because duh) and is already in on the joke, I couldn’t resist the laugh.  And Jeremy Renner, whose Hawkeye was underutilized (read: a joke) in the first movie, shines here as one of the quickest characters, with some of the best lines in the entire movie. When he must rally the rest of the team, when his quick shots are the last line of defense, Hawkeye proves to be an actual superhero, which is a nice change.  And my god, his lines! I’ve always like Renner as an actor, regardless of his role, and here his comedic abilities are a gem of a discovery amidst an already quick-witted cast.  I tried so hard to find some examples, but a) the movie just came out this weekend so IMDB isn’t updated yet, and b) apparently so far, no one finds him as amusing as I did.  No matter: Hawkeye alone is worth the price of admission. 

Robert Downey Jr. lives up to his set character as the snarky, brilliant Tony Stark, which should surprise no one.  He is perhaps the best, most consistently written character, and fans love Iron Man for that.  Captain America, however, is more akin to his bumbling, stick-up-his-ass character from the first Avengers movie, the growth and easing of character that happened in Winter Soldier forgotten.  I was a little bummed about that – I didn’t like the first Capt. America movie, but I really enjoyed Winter Soldier, so that’s what I’d been hoping for.  Chris Evans is still sexy though, so … *shrugs* Romanov and Banner both have their share of great moments and lines, as do the host of side characters like Rhodey/Warmachine, Falcon, and others briefly along for the ride. 

Clearly, character development and story is far more important than plot in the Avengers movies, and so that skyrockets this movie from an average superhero tale to a great one. 

There are a couple of truly exceptional scenes throughout, and for that discussion, I must again call Spoiler Alert! Not all are plot-specific, but they are certainly worth seeing in film before I pick them apart here.  You’ve been warned. 

My favorite scene happened early, maybe half an hour in, once the group has settled into their headquarters to celebrate their victory over Hydra.  The party’s been ongoing, with a variety of fun scenes (including Thor getting Stan Lee exceptionally drunk on Asgardian ale!) to keep it fresh.  Eventually though, the party winds down and as the Avengers are left alone to just chill, the question of how to lift Thor’s hammer comes up.  What ensues is a thing of beauty: a hilarious montage of each of the Avengers trying to lift it without success.  Stark of course must try, then adding his suit’s arm, then adding Rhodey with his suit’s arm, to a resounding failure.  (There’s an absolutely horrific moment where, when Thor assures Stark that he indeed gets to rule Asgard if he can lift it, Stark announces that he will be reinstituting Prima Nocta, which made me sad since that’s essentially Whedon including a historical rape joke. Anyway.)

Hawkeye tries, more tipsy than he should be, and then declares it a “trick,” and Romanov laughs that she doesn’t need that question answered.  Rogers is up next, and there’s this perfect acting moment from Chris Hemsworth as he makes his attempt.  Thor has been sitting to the side, laughing with that easy smile on his face as each member tries.  And since his mantra has been that no one can pick it up because “they aren’t worthy,” he’s not expecting anything.  But Rogers is by far the most ‘pure of heart’ of the Avengers, and the hammer wiggles, just a tiny bit, and as it does, Hemsworth’s face falls, perfectly, beautifully, just for a second.  Relief comes soon as the hammer does no more than that, and his smile is right back up – but I was just so impressed with him for that tiny moment of fear breaking through. 

And not long after, the first bodily iteration of Ultron staggers up the stairs for his debut, and the plot zooms off from there.  That scene is so perfect -- those character interactions, that at ease feeling they all give off, just the Avengers hanging out together, getting drunk and joking around.  The peek into their relationships when they aren't saving the world elevates both the movie and its writing to new heights. 

(Later, after Vision is unleashed, they're back in this moment in their Avengers Headquarters, all hesitant and unsure about what they do next. As they start to come to their senses about taking down Ultron and how they'll do it, it's obvious they aren't sure what to do with Vision, whose AI is creeping most of them out just a little bit.  And right at that moment when he has to step up and pull them together, right when they could band together or break apart, Vision picks up the hammer and unceremoniously hands it to Thor.  The ENTIRE THEATRE gasped when this happened, and the best part was, that gasp was on the face of every Avenger present.  Perfection.)

The other most powerful scene in the movie happens between Banner and Romanov, a quiet, tense romance scene that illuminates their relationship.  I mentioned that I almost felt cheated before, like their romance sparked somewhere between the last few movies instead of on-screen, and while I still think I'd like to see that locked-eyes, we're-attracted-to-each-other moment, this scene in Ultron starts to make up for up. 

The team is hidden away, gone to ground to recover from their first full-out battle with Ultron -- which they spectacularly lost, by the way. Spoilers - I warned you. Banner is shaving, and as he finishes and steps out, he finds Romanov sitting in his room in a robe, waiting to use the bathroom.  As he opens the door, she jokes that she was going to join but decided against it; he mentions there's no hot water, and she repeats that she should have joined, to awkward, not-sure-if-you're-kidding smiles all around. 

It's a rough start.  But from there, the scene is intense, no other word to describe it, as they reveal secrets and desires and fears, as they in turn step into each other's arms and then pull away.  I've always liked Mark Ruffalo, especially as Bruce Banner, so I wasn't surprised to find that his anguish in being unable to have a family, in being unsure about his future, and his fear all feel so real here.  I've also always been equally unsure about Scarlett Johansson, whom I like as Black Widow but was never really impressed by.  She brings this scene to life, giving just as much back to Ruffalo as he's bringing to her, and I can feel their suffering, their struggle to be better people, to fight against themselves.  It's almost heartbreaking to watch, and  beautiful. 

These great scenes aren't to suggest that the whole movie is like this -- there's a moment when they're fighting a giant army of minions, just the Avengers, and I turned and went, "Wouldn't the Rock with that gatling gun from Furious 7 be helpful here??" -- but they are representative of the writing skill that went into Age of Ultron. 

I would highly recommend this film.  If you like superhero movies, if you like action movies -- hell, if you just like great characters -- you will have the time of your life. 

The Age of Ultron is Now.